1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bending operation device that bends a bending portion in conjunction with inclination operation of a bending lever, and to an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
An endoscope insertable into a subject or an object has been widely used to allow for observation of a point inside the subject or the object that is difficult to be observed, for example, in-vivo in a medical field or an inside of a structure in an industrial field.
An insertion section of such an endoscope is provided with a bending portion that improves insertion property and observation property in the subject or the object. The bending portion is bent by a bending operation device provided in an operation section.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-325437 discloses a joystick bending operation device as the bending operation device to bend the bending portion of the insertion section. The bending operation device of the kind includes a joystick bending lever in which a plurality of arm parts are fixed to a proximal end portion, and the bending operation device bends the bending portion by pulling or relaxing traction wires that are respectively coupled to ends of the respective arm parts, in conjunction with the inclination operation of the bending lever.